Narcissus

Chapter Twelve

Above pic is Emma

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We had somehow managed to make it home. I wasn't entirely sure how. As soon as Finn, James, Rachel, Mrs Elderflower and I boarded the tram, we slumped into our seats, although Mrs Elderflower was more sat on my lap than the seat beside me. James dragged us off one stop too early, and we wandered in a daze for a while, occasionally almost being run down by cyclists, until we somehow reached the hostel. There was no set time for us to be back that evening like there usually was, so technically we just had to be back at Eleven o'clock. That mean't that when we reached the Hostel, no one from our school was there yet. We stood in a huddle in the reception, Mrs Elderflower's head leaning on my shoulder. Rachel glanced out of the floor to ceiling windows behind the desk, and her eyes lit up.

"Guys... Let's go swimming!" she gasped, and we were all so stoned we couldn't imagine a idea better than that. We found a side door that lead down to the garden. It was dark, with the hints of the sunrise still flickering, but the moon was up and the garden was alight with lanterns, fairy lights and large pillar candles. A small wooden dock sat at the end of the garden, with a metal ladder leading into the canal. We stripped off to our underwear, and Rachel got in first, testing the water to see how deep it was. "You can jump in! My feet can't touch the ground!" she shouted, and James and Finn did just that, creating a whirlpool as their bodies flipped, turned, span and dived into the water.

"Can you... help me?" drawled a lazy voice, and I took a step towards the blonde. Rachel, James and Finn had drifted around the corner, and we were obscured from the hotel due to large, overhanging plants. We were in our own world, hidden from everyone, our worries and troubles forgotten as I slowly lifted up her top, my fingernails grazing her soft, silky skin. "Now you." she muttered, slipping her skirt down her legs. I was momentarily paralysed as dark blue lace came into view, so much lace, and so much skin, skin now bronzed with the caring touch of the sun. "Why're you crying?" she whispered tenderly as my shirt fell to the floor, revealing my usual black bralette.

"You're so beautiful, Elise." was my only response, a tear glinting with the secrets of the moonlight carving it's way down my face. She bent down ever so slightly, taller than me even in her bare feet, kissing my tears away with the soft butterfly touch of her rosy lips. My hands rested on her toned stomach as she unbuttoned my denim shorts and pushed them down.

"I shouldn't let you call me Elise." she said, out of the blue.

"Why not?" I whispered, frowning.

"It does things," she pointed to her heart, pouting like a child, "When you say my name, it does things... here."

"Oh." I was silenced as her blue eyes, alight with fire, regarded me with an intensity I had never seen before.

"Let's get wet." she suddenly announced, giggling, pulling me by the hand, dragging me down to the canal. We got in, the cold water relaxing my bones, releasing the stress and heat of the day like nothing else could. We swum around the corner, and found James doing a lazy backstroke, Rachel and Finn coming towards us.

"We're going upstairs, cause, um, yeah..." Finn muttered, and I barely had time to register we were having a conversation before they were gone. James had decided to go inside too, and I knew he had spoken to me at some point as he left but I didn't even hear the words he said as Elise wrapped herself in my arms.

Leaning towards the blonde, I immersed myself in the feeling of the woman pressed up against me, her skin like soft velvet. Truly, there had never been as magical a moment in my life as this. Every moment spent with her was a moment I didn't want to forget, a moment I wanted to treasure forever in the depths of my mind, like a slideshow for my own personal viewing.